Reduce or disable Ground Aircraft Density in MSFS 2024, improve busy-airport FPS and fix aircraft that remain after setting it to zero.
To disable parked ground aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, open Settings, search for Ground Aircraft Density, and set the slider to 0. Use a low value instead if you want some gate traffic. Restart the flight—or the simulator—if an already-loaded airport does not refresh immediately.
How do I change Ground Aircraft Density?
- Open Settings: Use the main menu or pause an active flight and open the simulator settings.
- Search for the setting: Enter
Ground Aircraft Densityin the settings search box. This is more reliable than following a fixed menu path because the layout can vary between platforms and simulator updates. - Choose the density: Set it to 0 to disable simulator-generated parked aircraft, or select a low value to retain a few aircraft at stands.
- Apply the change: Return to the flight. If existing aircraft remain, reload the flight or restart MSFS 2024.
Do not confuse this control with Airport Vehicle Density, worker density or the main AI/live traffic setting. Those manage separate parts of airport activity.
What Ground Aircraft Density setting should I use?
A setting of 10–25 is a practical starting point when you want occupied gates without heavily crowding major airports. If the control is displayed on a 0–100 scale, choose according to the result you want:
| Setting | Best used for | Likely result |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Maximum performance, clean gates or an external traffic injector | No simulator-generated parked aircraft |
| 10–25 | A balanced airport appearance | A small selection of occupied stands |
| 26–50 | Busier airports on a system with performance headroom | More parked models and greater rendering load |
| Above 50 | Visual density taking priority over performance | Crowded stands and the greatest chance of duplicate or misplaced aircraft |
Parked aircraft add models, textures, lights and airport activity, so reducing them can help CPU, GPU and VRAM pressure around large hubs. For the other controls that matter, see our breakdown of traffic settings that affect MSFS frame rates. If the slowdown appears mainly during approach, our busy-airport landing performance fixes cover the wider causes.
Why are aircraft still parked at gates after setting it to zero?
Ground Aircraft Density controls the simulator's generated parked aircraft, not every possible aircraft source. Aircraft may remain because they were loaded before the change or come from one of these sources:
- Live or offline AI traffic that has landed, parked or spawned for a flight.
- Multiplayer aircraft controlled by other users.
- An external AI traffic injector.
- Static aircraft models built directly into airport scenery.
Reload the airport first. If aircraft remain, temporarily disable live traffic, multiplayer traffic and external injection one at a time to identify the source. Static scenery models cannot be removed with the density slider; check whether the airport add-on provides its own static-aircraft option.
A mistake we see constantly is running simulator-generated parked aircraft alongside an injector, which creates duplicate liveries and aircraft occupying the same stand. Set Ground Aircraft Density to zero while configuring an injector, then follow our guidance on avoiding duplicate traffic when adding AI aircraft.
Does setting Ground Aircraft Density to zero remove airborne AI?
No. It primarily removes simulator-generated parked aircraft at airport stands; it does not by itself disable live, offline or multiplayer traffic in the air. To remove all traffic, turn off those separate traffic sources as well. Ground vehicles and airport workers also have their own density controls.